Friday, September 05, 2008

8:10 pm MST update:File this one under payback. Maybe I spoke too soon. Pakistan stops NATO supplies at borderand claims it's not a reaction to the recent rash of US raids on al Qaeda safe havens. Really.

Fun fact: We have conducted 13 cross border attacks in Pakistan this year with 8 of those 13 occurring in the last 2 months and 5 of those in the last 6 days. 3 senior al Qaeda leaders have been killed but it's not enough.

While the strikes have disrupted al Qaeda's senior leadership, they have done little to disrupt the growth of al Qaeda and the Taliban in northwestern Pakistan.

The Taliban has organized some of its fighters into military formations. Al Qaeda has reformed the notorious 055 Brigade, the Arab legion of al Qaeda fighters that was destroyed during the initial US assault in Afghanistan in late 2001. Additional al Qaeda brigades have been formed, intelligence officials informed The Long War Journal.